Hestia Jones and the Year With the Dursleys
by Ryah Ignis
Summary: While the rest of the Order is on the run from Voldemort, Hestia Jones finds herself stuck baby-sitting what has to be the worst family to ever walk the planet. Will she survive what she thinks will be the most boring year of her life?
1. In Which I Get the Worst Job Ever

**Hello! This is a story about Hestia Jones who was enlisted to look after the Dursleys during the entire 759 pages of Deathly Hallows. Painful, right? I choose to believe that Hestia was in the same year as Cedric, making her twenty now.**

"So, who wants to be the one to look after those Muggles that raised Harry Potter?"

Silence from the slowly shrinking Order of the Phoenix. Some averted their eyes, and others muttered excuses under their breath.  
"Great Merlin, no," whispered Tonks from my left.  
"I know!" I said back. "Don't you remember what their house was like when we picked Harry up a while back?"  
Tonks shuddered in reply. Remus elbowed her with a look that said: "Pay attention!"  
I turned my eyes back to Mad-Eye, who looked annoyed that no one had volunteered yet. Not that I could blame them. Nobody with even half a mind would choose on their own to baby-sit the Dursleys.  
That's why, I suppose, Daedalus Diggle raised his hand and began waving it about like a madman.  
"Oooh! Oooh! Pick me! Pick me!" he shouted.  
The rest of the Order sighed, but they were already accustomed to the small man's antics, so nothing was said. I'm sure plenty of us had things to say, [I know I sure did] but we held our tongues.  
"Yes, Daedalus?" asked Mad-Eye exasperatedly.  
"I want to! I want to!" he bellowed.  
He almost always said things twice and loudly, so this was expected.  
Mad-Eye looked around at the rest of the group with two eyes for once, so we knew he was serious.  
"Do you think he meets the qualifications for this?" he asked.  
"No." I said quickly, shooting a look at him. I didn't care much for Daedalus, with all his silly playfulness. We were in the middle of a war, and if he wasn't careful, he was going to get himself killed.  
"Good. I don't like those Muggles," growled Mad-Eye, " I don't know how that woman is related to Lily!"  
Those around the table that had known the woman agreed instantly. I felt a prick of sadness for one of the last casualties of the last war. I think, had we met, we would have gotten along well.  
" We should probably get someone else to do it, too" Remus said, with a pointed look at Diggle.  
He was enchanting a butterbeer cap to fly around the room. I sighed, feeling very sorry for whoever was going to join him.

"Well, Hestia, welcome to the team," said Mad-Eye.

I realized what he was saying a beat later.  
"What? Oh no…oh no. Absolutely not!" I protested.  
Mad-Eye didn't seem to care about that.  
"Face it, Jones. You're one of the youngest members we have here, and we need to have the fighters ready at a moment's notice."  
I frowned, and then realized my pouting face was only heightening the effect of what he had just said.  
Mad-Eye continued the meeting. Tonks looked sympathetically at me. I groaned and covered my eyes with my hand. While everyone else would fight Voldemort until the very end, I would be stuck baby-sitting a bunch of lousy Muggles for Merlin knows how long! He could reign for years before someone killed him! To be stuck in a safe house with the idiot of the Order and three Muggles who made it their business to hate wizards. I glared at Mad-Eye for the rest of the meeting. It's sad to think that I spent the last hour I'd ever have with Mad-Eye Moody hating him.


	2. In Which I Meet the Dursleys

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Some of these quotes are taken from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. If I did own Harry Potter, Hestia and Neville's stories during Deathly Hallows would have been taken into account.**

"Come on, Diggle," I snarled, snatching his arm. The silk top hat that he always wore nearly fell off as we turned on the spot. I normally loved the suffocating darkness that surrounded me; it was a gateway to new places. One twist and I could be in France, or Germany! Unfortunately, this was not one of those pleasure trips.  
We arrived on the doorstep of the Dursley's house. The plants to the side were slightly crushed where Dedalus had landed on them. I sighed and pulled him to his feet.  
He reached out and pressed a small button to the side of the door. I watched it curiously. I had never taken Muggle Studies, so I had no idea what it did. The ringing sound that pierced the air in an annoying tune a second later explained it to me. Apparently, Muggles are too fancy to simply knock.  
"Harry Potter!" shrieked Daedalus, much to my irritation. "An honor as ever!"  
He bowed low, and I had to resist the urge to tell him he wasn't a house-elf. Harry gave me a small embarrassed smile. I raised my eyebrows and rolled my eyes in reply.

"It's really good of you to do this…they're through here, my aunt, uncle and cousin"

I had to stifle a groan at the mention of the dull people. One of the perks of being a wizard, besides magic, was that everything and everyone was interesting. Or dangerous. You just have to know the difference.  
"Good day to you, Harry Potter's relatives!" Dadalus sang, half-skipping into the living room. "I see you are packed and ready. Excellent! The plan, as Harry has told you, is a simple one. We shall be leaving before Harry does. Due to the danger of using magic in your house—Harry still being underage , it could provide the Ministry with an excuse to arrest him—we shall be driving, say, ten miles or so before Disappearating to the safe location we have picked out for you. You know how to drive, I take it?"

The Muggle, who, in my opinion had looked quite too happy at the prospect at Harry being arrested, spluttered his answer.  
"Know how to—? Of course I ruddy well know how to drive!"

"Very clever of you, sir, very clever. I personally would be utterly bamboozled by all those buttons and knobs" Dedalus said cheerfully.

"Can't even drive!" Vernon said in frustration.

I, being frustrated by Dedalus myself, understood his annoyance. Anyone who would use the word bamboozled these days…  
"You, Harry, will wait here for your guard. There had been a little change in the arrangements—"

"What d'you mean?" Harry asked "I thought Mad-Eye was going to come and take me by Side-Along Apparition?"

"Can't do it," I said before Dadalus could say something daft. "Mad-Eye will explain"

Harry looked annoyed by the lack of explanation, but the comfort of the Boy Who Lived was the least of our worries at the moment.

"_Hurry up!"_

Dadalus's watch had yelled at him. The Muggles and Harry jumped, but I had already used to it. [It had scared me half to death right before we Apperated. I nearly Splinched myself!]  
"Quite right, we're operating on a very tight are attempting to time your departure from the house with your family's Disapparition, Harry; thus the charm breaks the moment you all head for safety." He turned to the Dursleys. "Well, are we all packed and ready to go?"  
I didn't care if they were ready or not. Mad-Eye would kill us if we were late. None of those ridiculous Muggles said anything. I sighed. If I didn't say something soon, we'd never go. Prehaps they wanted privacy for their good-byes.

"Perhaps we should go outside, Dadalus," I said. Dadalus had no tact whatsoever.  
"There's no need," Harry muttered.  
I wondered why for a second, until the man {Vernon, I believe} said, "Well, this is good-bye , then, boy."

He looked as if he was about to shake Harry's hand, but thought better of it. "Ready, Diddy?" asked the woman, not looking at her nephew. I wondered if it was from pain of leaving him, the awkwardness of it all, or if she just didn't want to see him ever again.  
After having been in their home for less than five minutes, I could already guess that it was the third option.

'Diddy' didn't answer his mother. Was he deaf, for Merlin's sake?

"Come along, then," said Mr. Dursley.

'Diddy' mumbled, "I don't understand."

"What don't you understand, Popkin?"asked the woman.

I successfully kept my mouth shut, but I would have said something along the lines of "A lot of things"

'Popkin' pointed at Harry.

"Why isn't he coming with us?"

The two Muggles stopped in their tracks to look at him in stunned disbelief. I spared a moment to wonder why Harry wasn't leaving with his realatives. I had assumed it was for their safety.

"What?" said Uncle Vernon loudly.

"Why isn't he coming too?" asked 'Popkin'

"Well, he—he doesn't want to. You don't want to, do you?"

"Not in the slightest," said Harry.

I frowned.

"There you are," the man said. "Now come on, we're off."

He strode purposely out of the room, bumping into me as he went. I got no apology, not that I was expecting one. The boy didn't move though, and neither did the mother.

"What now?" the man asked irritably

'Popkin' took a long time to answer him.

"But where is he going?

My jaw dropped until it nearly hit the floor. I now understood why the Boy-Who-Lived always seemed so surprised by attention. These people hated him for no reason!

"But…surely you know where your nephew his going?" I asked, trying to keep myself from hexing him into next week.

"Certainly we know," said the Muggle. "He's off with some of your lot, isn't he? Right, Dudley, let's get in the car, you heard the man, we're in a hurry."

Again, Vernon Dursley marched as far as the front door, but Dudley did not follow.

"Off with some of our lot?"  
I glared fiercely at him. It was one thing to not know where your nephew was going. That was classified information, after all. To not know who he was going with was another matter entirely.

"It's fine" Harry told me.

"Doesn't matter?" I asked, getting angrier by the minute. "Don't these people realize what you've been through? What danger you're in? The unique position you hold in the hearts of the anti-Voldemort movement?"  
I noticed that the Dursleys didn't flinch like I'd hoped they would when I mentioned Voldemort's name casually. These Muggles were difficult. They didn't care about their nephew, they didn't care about Voldemort. Why in the name of Merlin's pants don't they know anything about the wizarding world?  
"Er—no, they don't. They think I'm a waste of space, actually, but I'm used to—"

I was revving up to give Vernon, Petunia and Dudley Dursley a good talking too, but Dudley/Popkin/Diddy beat me to it.

"I don't think you're a waste of space."

Well, that was touching. I nearly fainted from the use of love…and sarcasm.

"Well…er…thanks, Dudley."

How could he possibly say thank you to that pile of dragon dung?

"You saved my life."

"Not really. It was your soul the dementors would have taken…"

Dementor?

The woman burst into tears and charged forward to hug 'Popkin'. I glared at her. She cared more about a boy that had just told the Boy-Who-Lived that he was not a waste of space then the Boy-Who-Lived himself?

"S- so sweet Dudders..s-such a lovely b-boy…saying thank you…"

"But he didn't say thank you at all!" I interjected, getting sick of this sappiness. "He only said that he didn't think Harry was a waste of space!"

"Yeah, well coming from Dudley that's like 'I love you'" Harry replied with a small grin. I was still angry on his behalf, but kept my mouth shut. I had not said more things that I had wanted to more in the last five minutes then in the past month.

"Are we going or not?" shouted the man.

"Yes-yes we are. We really must be off. Harry, good luck. I hope we meet again. The hopes of the Wizarding world rest upon your shoulders."  
"What a thing to tell him," I muttered so Harry couldn't hear. "'the hopes of the Wizarding world rest upon your shoulders' honestly…"

"Oh. Right. Thanks"  
"Farewell, Harry," I said, smartly shaking his hand. "Our thoughts go with you."

"I hope everything's okay," he said, looking off at his so-called family.  
"Oh, I'm sure we shall end up the best of chums," said Diggle cheerfully

Right.

I followed him outside to where the car was parked, a towering mound of furniture and other items strapped to the top.

"Oh, we won't be conspicuous at all," I said sarcastically.

I didn't have much experience with Muggles, but I was pretty sure that they typically didn't drive around like that. Petunia turned around and promptly burst into tears again, looking at the house. I sighed.

"Well, we're going to be spending a lot of time together, so we might as well start now. I'm Hestia Jones."

Silence from the Dursleys.

"Wonderful"

"I know!" said Dadalus, his face shining.

'Dudders' came outside. Vernon gave a mutter of relief and opened the car door, ushering a still weeping Petunia into the back. Dudley followed his mother into the back seat, while Dadalus claimed the front. This left me to squeeze into the back with the pair.  
"Dudley Dursley," said the boy, extending his large hand.

As this was the first show of politeness I had gotten from the family, I shook it.

"Hestia Jones. Member of the Order of the Ph- whoa!"

The car had started and I had been thrown against the back of Dadalus's seat. Dudley pointed to a weird hook thing. I dragged it down and fastened it into place next to me like a belt.

"You've never been in a car?" asked Dudley, eyeing me like I was some sort of circus animal.

"Nope. I usually travel by broom, or Apperating. I'm not a fan of Floo Powder, though."

I got some of my dignity back through his befuddled expression. I checked my watch, hoping to relieve some of the awkwardness. 11:30. That was good. We were right on schedule.

"So where are we going, anyway?" asked the man, Vernon.

"Away," I said curtly, in no mood to answer him. Dadalus did, though, and explained in his annoyingly high-pitched voice.

I peered anxiously up at the sky. My neck hurt from all the craning, but I couldn't stand not knowing if everyone was okay. Muggle cars are apparently not designed for watching wizards duel on broomsticks while trying to evacuate a seventeen-year-old who might just be the turning point in a war for magical power. I don't think any car designers ever had that in mind while building.

"What are you looking for?" Dudley asked.

I didn't know much about the Muggle boy. Once, at dinner at 12 Grimmauld Place, I had been seated next to Ron and we had talked about them. From what I'd gathered, Dudley had said more to me in the past ten minutes then in his entire life.

"The others are up there," I said tersely, attempting to get a better view.

"Flying?"

"No, swimming," I retorted brusquely.

He looked confused.

"Of course they're flying!"

While I'd been distracted, the first shot had been fired. The sky lit up in a bright blast of green. I gasped, and Vernon nearly veered off the road.

"What?" he snapped, trying to keep his eyes on the road.

"They knew!" I cried "We have a traitor! I told Mad-Eye, I told him! Dadalus, we've got to help them _now_!"

I started pulling desperately on the door handle, but it was locked.

"Open the door!" I shouted at Vernon.

"You want to jump out while we're going sixty? Be my guest!"

The door opened and I fumbled with my seatbelt. Dudley put a firm hand around my wrist. He swung the door shut.

"Are you crazy? Those are my friends up there and-"

"You have a mission for the Order of the Phee, so don't' blow it!"

I didn't correct him, but finally figured out how to make the window and stuck my head out. Something was falling out of the sky towards us. It landed on the highway directly next to our speeding car.

"MAD-EYE!" I yelled.

His limp body still lay on the side of the road. The car kept going and I was forced to watch as he disappeared from view.

The sky lit up again, and a couple of Death Eaters came closer.

"Step on it, Dad!" bellowed Dudley.

"Step on what?" screamed Dadalus.

The Death Eaters weren't headed for Mad-Eye. They were headed for us.


	3. In Which I Find That Muggle Cars Rock

**Sorry it took me so long to update!**

"Look out!" I yelped in fear as the Death Eater zoomed towards us.

"Break, Dad! Break!"

"What?" screamed Vernon.

"Trust me!" yelled Dudley "I saw this in a movie once!"

Great. Our lives were in the hands of a boy who watched television most of his days—when he wasn't at the gym, as Petunia had proceeded to tell me when we had met the first day.

Vernon slammed on the breaks. The car screeched to a halt, the airbag going off in Dadalus's face and sending him flying back into the seat. The black-robed Death Eater crashed into the front of the car, shattering the glass.

"Protego!" I cried. We were all safe from the glass and the Death Eater for now.

The Death Eater lay sprawled out over the front and back seat. Dadalus nudged him. Nothing. He was completely unconscious. I opened the door, and with Dudley's help tossed him on to the side of the road.

"You people owe me," Vernon snarled, motioning angrily at his broken windshield. Hello? Your son suggested that! Idiot. I pointed my wand at the windshield, and said smartly "Reparo."

It went back together seamlessly, as if it hadn't happened. Vernon jerked back as though he had been burned. I looked at Petunia for her reaction, but there were tears in her eyes. Dudley stared bug-eyed at the windshield. I kept my wand out, ready for more trouble. Vernon started the car and we headed off again, ready to be attacked.

Now Dudley leaned across his mother to get a better view of the sky. There were still blasts. That was good. Even though Mad-Eye was dead, the others kept up the fight. I wanted nothing more than to be in the sky fighting with my friends, but I unfortunately had a mission. All I can say is, my name better be in the history books.

"Faster!" Dadalus urged.

The car accelerated as we pulled ahead of the others. Dadalus jumped when a car behind us honked rudely. Well, excuse us for trying to escape a bunch of madmen on brooms.

"Look!" Dudley yelled, tugging on my sleeve. A band of gold fire erupted across the sky. That wasn't the strangest part. The person on the other end of the flames wasn't using a broom.

"You can fly?" asked Dudley in disbelief, looking up at the person.

Only one wizard I knew could possibly figure out how to fly without support. This was not going to end well for the other fighter. Before we knew it, though, Voldemort was doubling back and the other person—Harry, if I had to place a Galleon on it—flew on with the immense figure that could only be Rubeus Hagrid. Our hopes fell with them, though, when they started to plummet out of the sky.

Dadalus and I exchanged horrified glances. For the first time in the ridiculous, purple top-hatted man's life, he was serious. If Harry was dead, so was the rebellion. We were headed for the only safe house there was. If everyone else was enslaved by Voldemort, we'd be the only ones free.

"Keep driving," I told Vernon heavily.

I looked back behind us. In my mind's eye, I could still see Mad-Eye's limp body on the side of the road…he was dead…

Dudley looked back too.

"What are you looking for?"

I sighed. This kid didn't get it.

"Those men. Death Eaters."

Dudley chewed on that bit of information for a long, awkward moment. Dadalus began asking Vernon how the car worked, and Petunia still stared out the window with tears in her eyes.

"Who leads them?"

"The man you saw flying without support. He—well, we don't really like to say his name, but—"

"Voldemort," interrupted Dudley.

At once, there were four people in front of us, not on brooms, who looked horrified when they saw the car barreling towards them at sixty miles an hour.

"Break, Vernon!" shrieked Petunia, at the same time that I cheered.

"Hit them!"

Luckily, Vernon listened to me for the first and last time that night, and kept going, scattering the people that I later learned were called Snatchers left and right.

Note to self: Always have a Muggle car on hand for bashing Death Eaters. They come in handy.

"Yeah, Dad!" cried Dudley, as if he were in the middle of one of his television shows watching the scene. I personally disliked that fact that we had to hit Death Eaters with a car, but each to their own I guess.

I remembered to look up, but the fighting had ended with Harry's death or possible flight to safety. I desperately hoped that it was the latter. If not…

Dudley looked over at me. "Isn't all this exciting?" he asked, eyes shining with the stupidity of the innocent. Like Dadalus.

"Not really."

Dudley seemed fed up with my bland replies. The rest of the car ride was uneventful, until we turned on to the bumpy country rode that led to the safe house. The moan from Petunia made her opinion of the house clear. I thought it was cute. It was a cabin nestled away underneath large oak trees with acorns scattered all about. I remembered the cleanliness of Number 4 and I realized what she was upset about. Those walnuts would be a pain to clean up.

"How will we get visitors? It's so out of the way!" Petunia said distastefully.

I stared at her blankly for a second. Visitors? What in the name of Merlin's most sparkly blue boots was she _thinking_? You couldn't receive visitors when you're on the run!

"We won't," I said bluntly.

This didn't seem to satisfy her. If anything, she looked even angrier. I sighed and got out of the car. If it wasn't for magic, we would be there for hours unpacking, but by the time the rest of the family and Dadalus had gotten out of the car, I had an impressive mound of belongings stacked in front of me. Vernon looked ready to object to the use of magic on his things, but he didn't say anything. Dudley picked up one of the bags with ease and carried it in. I followed in his wake with my own stack of objects magically supported beside me. We finished within minutes.

"I'm going to bed," I announced. Vernon waved me off with a grunt, so I assumed he was fine with it. I had seen enough today, so it was with relief I pulled the covers up on the bed waiting for me in my room. It was sparsely decorated. Oh well. I wouldn't want to get too attached; you'd never know when we'd have to move again. I considered writing Tonks to see if she was all right. I was worried about her, what with the baby on the way and all. I wondered if she'd told Remus yet. I sighed and laid down, not even bothering to change out of my robes as I drifted to sleep.


	4. In Which I Speak Kindly With Petunia

It had been a month since we had showed up at the new house. Petunia went to great lengths to keep it as pristine as her home on Privet Drive. She didn't accept my offer of magical help. Let's face it, lady. Mrs. Skower's Magical Mess Remover beats any Muggle cleaning supplies! Despite my arguments I found myself with nothing to do except practice duel with Dadalus in the backyard or attempt to tutor Dudley in Calculus [This wasn't helped by the fact that I had never even heard of Calculus and Dudley's stupidity.] That's why I was sitting in the kitchen with Petunia while waiting for dinner to be served. Petunia didn't want my help with cooking, either, saying that her sister had always managed to blow something up. I might not be the best witch in the world, but that did not sound like the legendary Lily Potter that I knew.

"Miss Jones?"

"You can call me Hestia, Mrs. Dursley."

"Did the curse that got my sister…did it hurt her?"

I looked over to her, finding that her face was set in lines and her eyes were hardened.

"It killed her, Mrs. Dursley," I informed her coldly.

Merlin. Did she even know that her sister had died?

"I know that!" she said, sounding ruffled. "But did it…hurt?"

I shrugged and looked down at my hands folded on the bright red robes that Petunia hated so much. She hadn't told me so, but her expression was enough.

"I wouldn't know, Mrs. Dursley. I, for one, haven't been hit by it. Otherwise, I would be dead."

"Oh."

The silence was drawn out, painful, and more awkward than even the cruelest person could dream of. Petunia stirred the spaghetti. I listened to the gentle swishing noise. More silence. I decided to broach the subject again.

"Why did you want to know?"

"Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like if she had been more like me…if I had been like her…"

I had absolutely no clue what to make of this.

"What?"

"If she had been like me, a useless, boring, talentless Muggle, then she wouldn't have died!" Petunia cried, looking towards me with her face stained with tears. "But no, she had to be like you. She had to get tangled up in that mess of an Order and get herself BLOWN UP!"

I paused a beat, trying to figure out if she was insulting herself or me more in that sentence. She was calling herself useless, boring, and untalented [which she was] and telling me that I was going to get myself blown up…personally I'd rather get blown up, but that's my preference.

"She saved her son…who then spent the next ten years getting mistreated under your roof!" I said.

All the emotions from when I'd seen the expression on Harry's face regarding the good-byes simply let go. Besides, everyone knows that the best way to stop tears is to get in a row.

"And if I had powers I could have stopped him!" raged Petunia, apparently oblivious to everything I had just said.

I got the feeling that she was telling me everything that she wished she'd had the nerve, or the time to tell her little sister. I didn't tell her that she couldn't have stopped Voldemort if she tried.

"And that awful boy, getting her involved in it earlier…had she just gotten the letter, we would have been convinced it was a hoax and she wouldn't have gone!"

I wanted to explain that Muggle-borns are sent a teacher to explain that they were magical and where to buy their school things, but thought better of it at the last moment.

"She shouldn't have died," finished Petunia lamely.

"I know. That's why I'm fighting. So there are no more Lily Potters. That's why we're hiding you. We believe that if Harry is killed in the fight, the only person that can defeat him is one that has Lily's blood, and magical protection, flowing through their veins. If your nephew dies, you might be our last hope. My world's last hope. You or Dudley."

Petunia paused and wiped her eyes.

"I don't want to be your last hope!" she shrieked, sounding like the Petunia I know. "Find yourself another one, because my son and I have nothing to do with your world!"

The Order had forgotten that Dudley was related by blood to Lily too. Well. That's a bit of a monkey wrench.


	5. In Which I Meet an Old Friend

**After a long and unplanned hiatus, I am back. I can't say when I'll be back; this fic was started on a whim and I really don't know where I'm headed with it. But anyway, enjoy and review!**

"And the Seeker tries to- are you following me?"

Dudley's completely blank face answered that question for me. When he had asked about sports in the wizarding world, I guess he hadn't had that much in mind. Well, it wasn't my fault I was the niece of and international Quidditch player!

"Okay, let me back up. Seven players, three balls. Got that?"

"Yes."

"So the Chasers have the Quaffle- did you hear that?"

There was a growling noise coming from the woods. I got up, motioning for Dudley to stay where he was. Drawing my wand, I crept over to the leaves. Nothing. Goodness, was I getting paranoid.

"It's okay, I'm just imagining things."

"Oh really?" snarled a voice in my ear.

Something grabbed my shoulders and I dropped my wand in surprise.

"Two guesses who!"

I didn't need two guesses to realize that Fenrir Greyback was standing right behind me. Uh-oh.

"This isn't because of that mishap with the glue in Professor Flitwick's class, right?" I asked weakly, remembering the incident that had made me number one on the now werewolf's hit list. He chuckled and tightened his grip. Dudley's eyes had grown to the size of saucers.

"Dudley, if you value your life you will run and get Dadalus," I told him.

"Don't worry about her…just run. I'll catch you."

I brought my elbow into his chest. He laughed again. It mustn't have done anything. He was hundreds of times stronger than me. Dudley stood and backed up slowly, his eyes on Greyback. I struggled again. Greyback ran a claw down my face without cutting my skin. I searched around on the ground with my foot. My wand lay forgotten by everyone but me. I nudged it, and then kicked it as hard as I could. It landed a few feet in front of Dudley.

"Try it!" I shrieked.

Greyback sliced my back in punishment and I screamed in pain. It hurt worse than anything I had ever felt. I hoped he wasn't in werewolf form. Otherwise I would have to ask Lupin for advice. The sound of my scream shook Dudley and he charged forward. Greyback crouched with me still in his grasp and readied himself for a spell. He didn't know that Dudley was a Muggle. That was useful, because the last thing he expected was for Dudley to plow into him. What must have been two hundred plus pounds of angry Dursley hit him hard. I was knocked to the ground and rolled, looking for my wand and trying to ignore the burning in my back. I finally found it on top of a large pile of leaves.

I snatched it up and raised my wand in Greyback's direction. He and Dudley were in a desperate battle. Let me rephrase that. Dudley was the desperate one. Greyback was having the time of his miserable life wrestling with my charge. Not on my watch, wolf.

I launched myself into the fray, brandishing my wand. With it, I was far more powerful then both of them. Believe me when I say that Greyback paid no attention to his wizard studies. He was in his seventh year when I was in my first, but that didn't stop me from gluing his head to the trombone Flitwick was planning on using for the next day's lesson. He was asking for it with all that hair!

"Dudley! Grab hold!"

Dudley snatched my fingertips and we managed to pull away from Greyback. In that split instant, I managed to Apperate, hoping that Dudley Dursley was magical enough to withstand it.

We landed in Muggle London. I hauled Dudley to his feet and dragged him over to a trash can. Once he was done reliving that morning's breakfast, we started to run along the street. I must have been a strange sight for the poor commuters in robes of deep lavender.

"What just happened?" Dudley called.

Despite just Apperating for the first time, he was keeping up well. I turned a random corner and kept going.

"You just Apperated. I knew that you had some magic in you. No kin of Lily Potter can avoid it."

"No, with that man!"

"He's an old buddy from school. Let's just say that we didn't get along. Plus, he's now a Death Eater."

Excellent, Charing Cross. I had to get somewhere where I could perform some magic. Dadalus had to get to us, pronto. I flung open the Leaky Cauldron door and stormed inside, ignoring the looks I got from the people inside. A group of Death Eaters were seated at a table near the door. Dudley's eyes flashed with recognition, but I pulled him past them and into Diagon Alley.

"State your business," one of the Death Eaters guarding the entrance said.

"Early Christmas shopping," I said brightly, shouldering past him, hoping that he wouldn't notice Dudley's Muggle attire.

"What's up with the kid's clothes?"

Well, would you look at that.

"He was—Stupefy!"

The guard crumpled and in an instant the next one was down too. Tom the innkeeper had come out to see what the commotion was about.

"Do me a favor and put them where you put the rest of the trash," I said.

I tapped my wand on the bricks and they shifted aside to reveal Diagon Alley. Dudley's jaw dropped. To be honest, I didn't find the sight impressive, but he had never seen it alive with color.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Nothing. Oh come on. I thought about the look on Greyback's face when Dudley struck him. Now that was a happy thought.

"Expecto Patronum!"

The silver bear reared its head. I performed a complicated twist of my wand and spoke my message.

"Dadalus, get to Weasley Wizard Wheezes now."

]


End file.
